1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is, in general, directed to a method and apparatus for inserting a pouring pipe into a mold of a continuous casting machine, and more specifically, to such a method and apparatus wherein the pouring pipe is transferred from a substantially horizontal starting position outside the mold to a substantially vertical waiting position with at least a bottom portion of the pouring pipe inserted into the mold. The method and apparatus also allow for the pouring pipe to be moved from the waiting position into a pouring position directly beneath a casting opening of a metallurgical vessel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In use of a continuous casting machine, since a pouring pipe is to be disposed in a pouring position wherein its upper end is attached to a metallurgical vessel and its lower end projects into a mold, it is necessary that the distance between the bottom wall of the metallurgical vessel and the upper opening of the mold be significantly shorter than the length of the pouring pipe. Therefore, it is difficult to insert the pouring pipe from a position outside the mold into its substantially vertical pouring position due to the lack of space between the bottom of the metallurgical vessel and the top of the mold, and it is necessary to perform such insertion of the pouring pipe with the pouring pipe in a substantially horizontal position.
In European patent 0 192 019 A1, a method is disclosed for manually inserting a pouring pipe sideways into the space between the metallurgical vessel and the mold, and then pivoting the pouring pipe into its vertical position, in which a head plate at the top of the pouring pipe is received on guide rails at a waiting position. From this waiting position, the pouring pipe can be pushed by a pusher mechanism into a casting position directly beneath a casting opening of the metallurgical vessel. The arrangement can be such that, if a previously used and eroded or worn pouring pipe is in the pouring position, it can be pushed along the guide rails from its pouring position as the new pouring pipe is moved from the waiting position into the pouring position. However, this method disclosed in European patent 0 192 019A1 is disadvantageous in that the manual work which it requires is quite time consuming and, since the manual work must be performed by an operator present in the very high temperature area of the casting machine, the work can be quite burdensome for the operator.
In FR-OS 2 424 095, an apparatus is disclosed for inserting a pouring pipe beneath the casting opening of a metallurgical vessel. This apparatus includes two supporting frames for supporting the pouring pipes. The frames are made of a refractory material and can be pivoted about two axes that are perpendicular relative to one another and the axis of the casting opening. The pouring pipe is supported by the two supporting frames in such a manner that it is, itself, pivotable relative to the supporting frames about an axis. The numerous degrees of freedom provided by this apparatus for the movement of the pouring pipe allows the upper end of the pouring pipe to be moved into abutment with the bottom contact surface of a stationary bottom refractory plate at the casting opening of the metallurgical vessel. Furthermore, the supporting frames of this apparatus are movable on rails attached to the bottom wall of the metallurgical vessel, such that the pouring pipe can be moved into or out of position beneath the casting opening of the metallurgical vessel. However, to perform this operation, it is necessary that the metallurgical vessel be lifted relative to the mold due to the vertical positioning of the pouring pipe. In addition, the apparatus disclosed in FR-OS 2 424 095 is of a quite complicated and expensive construction.